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Hurricane Katrina was the costliest and one of the deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States . It was the sixth-strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded and the third-strongest landfalling U.S. hurricane ever recorded. Katrina formed in late August during the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season and devastated much of the north-central Gulf Coast of the United States . Most notable in media coverage were the catastrophic effects on the city of New Orleans, Louisiana , and in coastal Mississippi . Katrina's sheer size devastated the Gulf Coast over 100 miles (160 km) away from its center.

Katrina was the eleventh named storm, fifth hurricane, third major hurricane , and second Category 5 hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic season. It formed over the Bahamas on August 23 , 2005 , and crossed southern Florida as a moderate Category 1 hurricane , causing some damage there, before strengthening rapidly in the Gulf of Mexico and becoming one of the strongest hurricanes on record. The storm weakened considerably before making its second and third landfalls as a Category 3 storm on the morning of August 29 in southeast Louisiana and at the Louisiana/Mississippi state line, respectively.

The storm surge caused severe or catastrophic damage along the Gulf coast, devastating the cities of Mobile, Alabama , Waveland and Biloxi / Gulfport in Mississippi, and Slidell and other towns in Louisiana. Levees separating Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans were breached by the surge, ultimately flooding 80% of the city and many areas of neighboring parishes for weeks. Severe wind damage was reported well inland.

Katrina is estimated to be responsible for $81.2 billion (2005 US dollars ) in damages, making it the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history . The storm killed at least 1,836 people, making it the deadliest U.S. hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane . Criticism of the federal, state and local governments' reaction to the storm was widespread and resulted in an investigation by the United States Congress and the resignation of FEMA head Michael Brown. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina

Storm History

Hurricane Katrina formed as Tropical Depression Twelve over the southeastern Bahamas on August 23, 2005 as the result of an interaction of a tropical wave and the remains of Tropical Depression Ten. The system was upgraded to tropical storm status on the morning of August 24 and at this point, the storm was given the name Katrina. The tropical storm continued to move towards Florida, and became a hurricane only two hours before it made landfall between Hallandale Beach and Aventura, Florida on the morning of August 25 . The storm weakened over land, but it regained hurricane status about one hour after entering the Gulf of Mexico.

The storm rapidly intensified after entering the Gulf, partly because of the storm's movement over the warm waters of the Loop Current. On August 27, the storm reached Category 3 intensity on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale , becoming the third major hurricane of the season. An eyewall replacement cycle disrupted the intensification, but caused the storm to nearly double in size. Katrina again rapidly intensified, attaining Category 5 status on the morning of August 28 and reached its peak strength at 1:00 p.m. CDT that day, with maximum sustained winds of 175 mph (280 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 902  mbar. The pressure measurement made Katrina the fourth most intense Atlantic hurricane on record at the time, only to be surpassed by Hurricanes Rita and Wilma later in the season; it was also the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico at the time as well (a record also later broken by Rita).

Katrina made its second landfall at 11:25 p.m. CDT on August 28 as a Category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of 125 mph (205 km/h) near Buras-Triumph, Louisiana. At landfall, hurricane-force winds extended outward 120 miles (190 km) from the center and the storm's central pressure was 920 mbar. After moving over southeastern Louisiana and Breton Sound, it made its third landfall near the Louisiana/Mississippi border with 120 mph (195 km/h) sustained winds, still at Category 3 intensity.

Katrina maintained hurricane strength well into Mississippi, but weakened thereafter, finally losing hurricane strength more than 150 mi (240 km) inland near Jackson, Mississippi. It was downgraded to a tropical depression near Clarksville, Tennessee, but its remnants were last distinguishable in the eastern Great Lakes region on August 31, when it was absorbed by a frontal boundary . The resulting extratropical storm moved rapidly to the northeast and affected Ontario and Qebec.

Deaths by State
Alabama - 1
Florida - 14
Georgia - 2
Kentucky - 1
Louisiana - 1,577
Mississippi - 238
Ohio - 2
Total - 1,836
Still Missing: 705

One Year Later: Southeast Louisiana Red Cross Chapter Remembers and Regroups

Friday, September 01, 2006 - NEW ORLEANS - With the ringing of bells and a few blurred eyes, Southeast Louisiana Red Cross Chapter employees, volunteers and supporters commemorated the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina outside of their former offices on Canal Street in New Orleans. The devastated building is still boarded up, so the gathering took place under a white tent in the back parking. [more]